Local students honored in ‘America & Me’ contest

Published 8:00 pm, Tuesday, April 13, 2010

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Farm Bureau Insurance Agent Steve Ellis of Marlette and eighth grade teacher Jill Thomas recently announced the winners of the annual America and Me essay contest. Pictured left to right are Ellis, first place winner Gretchen Moore, second place winner Alex Byers, third place winner Lindsey Burton and Thomas. Sponsor Farm Bureau Insurance donated $100 to the first place winner, $75 to the second place winner and $50 to the third place winner. Ellis also announced that pictures of the students will be featured on the Farm Bureau Insurance billboard located south of Marlette on M-53. less

Farm Bureau Insurance Agent Steve Ellis of Marlette and eighth grade teacher Jill Thomas recently announced the winners of the annual America and Me essay contest. Pictured left to right are Ellis, first place ... more

Local students honored in ‘America & Me’ contest

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Three students from Marlette Middle School in Marlette have been named local winners in the 41st annual America & Me Essay Contest, sponsored by Farm Bureau Insurance.

The three students who earned the first, second and third place awards for their school, are Gretchen Moore, first, Alex Byers, second and Lindsey Burton, third. All three received award certificates for their achievement. As the school’s first place winner, Moore’s name will also be engraved on a plaque for permanent display in the school.

Moore’s first place essay now advances to the state level competition, from which the top ten essays in Michigan will be selected. The top ten statewide winners, who will be announced in April, will each receive a plaque, a medallion and a cash award of $1,000. In addition, the top ten essayists will be honored at a banquet in Lansing, meet with Michigan’s top governmental leaders, and be the featured guests at a Lansing Lugnuts minor league baseball game dedicated in their honor.

A team of finalist judges that includes a top Michigan Government official and the sponsoring teachers of last year’s top two statewide winners will determine the ranking of the top ten statewide winners this year.

Several thousand eighth grade students from nearly 500 Michigan schools participated in the 2009-2010 America & Me Essay Contest, which was conducted with the help of Farm Bureau Insurance agents across the state. The topic of the 2009-2010 contest was “My Personal Michigan Hero.”

Started in 1968 and open to all Michigan eighth grade students, the contest encourages Michigan youngsters to explore their roles in America’s future. As sponsor of the contest, Farm Bureau Insurance has earned 11 national awards from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.

Hero in my Heart

By: Gretchen Moore

Hero; someone who is looked up to for valor. Not a person with a plastered smile on their face going around declaring “It’s all in a days work ma’am.” A hero is a real person who helps out and does what’s right, and that’s who my hero is. Nelson Baldwin, the kindest man I’ve ever met, was born in Brown City, Michigan on February 6, 1913. He was the one person I could tell everything to. In my heart he was there every day, and he still is now.

In 1923, Nelson met Marie Derby, a teacher from Port Huron, and they fell in love. In 1925, they were bound in holy matrimony. Seven years later, they had their first baby girl, Phyllis. In the years that followed they had two more children, Robert and Caroline. On Valentine’s Day, nine years after the birth of their first daughter, Phyllis was hit by a vehicle in front of their house on Peck Road in Croswell and died instantly from the impact. Through Nelson’s blurry eyes and heavy sorrows, he removed his daughter’s body off the road.

Another hardship in my hero’s life stated the day he found out he was a twin. While being tested for cancer, the doctors found an infants skull inside his body. The shock majorly impacted his life. He had a rare cancer, and he was a twin. The impact affected him in a good way though; he didn’t take things for granted, but instead appreciated life to the fullest.

In the years that came, his wife Marie developed dementia and the couple needed assistance doing daily things since age had disabled them. They hired a young woman, Diana, who just happened to be my mother. She was their home nurse, and they loved her as their own daughter. Years later she met my father, Raymond Moore. They fell in love and married in 1994. Two years later my mother gave birth to a little girl, me. Even though my memory serves me no good, my parents’ stories reveal that when my hero first held me, he called me his granddaughter and I smiled.

From then on he was my best friend. He taught me everything from catching fish to tying my shoes. He treated me as his granddaughter and provided me with a place to call home. He worked hard to give his loved ones the best life they could have. If that isn’t what a hero’s all about, then I don’t know what is.

On November 19, 2001, his returned cancer took over his life and he died in Port Huron Hospital. If I would have known that the hospital bed where we had our daily conversation on was his death bed, I don’t think I’d have taken things so lightheartedly. Through his whole struggle he kept a smile on his face. He knew that God was with him and that he had done all he could to give his loved ones the best lives they could have. On that day there were holes in our hearts that panged with grief, but deep down we knew he was in a better place. From his experiences in life, I’ve learned that even when things seem like all is lost, kick it in gear and smile because things will get better. No matter what happens, I know Nelson is there comforting me. He was and is my friend, my neighbor and my hero.

By: Alex Byers

A hero: one who is looked up to for valor, achievements and noble qualities. This is the definition from the dictionary. This describes some of the many reasons I look up to my hero, but I also admire his kind heart and brilliant mind. In my opinion he is one of the greatest men that I know, and that man is my grandfather.

My grandfather’s name is Lloyd Storey, and he was born on March 19, 1931, in Detroit, Michigan. He was born during the Great Depression although he was still too young to remember most of it he remembers near the end when he was a little boy, he did not have very many toys and there was not a lot of food, but he had his family and that’s all that really mattered to him. He had one brother and one sister both are some of the kindest people I have ever met. I also got to meet his mother and father before they passed on, they were very kind hearted people but they mostly kept to themselves.

My grandpa had had many different jobs where he helped many other people. For example, he was a soldier in the U.S. Navy risking his life to protect the lives of other people and this great country. He also worked as a social worker going into the ghettos of Saginaw, Detroit, and Flint helping the less fortunate, and every once in a while he would get a gun pulled on him. One other thing that I think is heroic is when my grandpa fought for the right of a pregnant girl to stay in school when they wanted to kick her out because she didn’t have a husband, but because of him that girl got to finish high school and get a higher education.

Every time I see my grandpa I’m reminded that life isn’t all about me. It’s about all the people around you and how you treat them. He also taught me that no matter how much you dislike a person you should help them when they’ve hit a rough spot in their life. One of the greatest lessons that my grandpa has taught me is that whenever someone has wronged another person and you have the power to fix that wrong, then you use all of that power to fix it even if you get nothing in return.

Now my grandpa is old and retired, living with his wife Geraldine in Marlette, Michigan. Even now he is still a kind and intelligent man and those qualities are what make him my hero, and I will remember to use the lessons he had taught to make myself a better person and to make him proud that I am his grandson.